Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent: the Sunday of Hope. Here is the devotional we read that morning. There will be one for each Sunday before Christmas.
THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT – HOPE
Advent is the four Sunday period immediately before Christmas. The advent wreath contains the four candles of Advent – Hope, Love, Joy and Peace – and the Christ candle which will be lit Christmas Eve.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Hope.
The Old Testament prophet Micah said: But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
One thing that characterizes the world in general today is lack of hope. You can see it in everything around you. Lack of morale, lack of morals, lack of compassion – all signs of a people who have lost their hope in life.
Colossians calls Jesus Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is our hope. He gives us hope when we are lost, when we feel like failures, when it seems that everything around us is falling apart.
In Jesus we have hope. He gives us hope for our lives here: a purpose and a reason for our existence. And he gives us a hope for the future: a life with him in glory.
The psalmist writes: guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. It is that hope that keeps us strong in him and in his grace. That hope comes from the knowledge that no matter what else happens, nothing can separate us from the love of God. That hope comes from the blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. That hope comes from the fact that God will be with us no matter what else happens. As the writer in Hebrews said, Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Today we light the first candle of Advent, one of the purple candles, the candle of Hope. By lighting this candle, we celebrate the hope that lies in us, the hope that we wait for, the hope we profess, the hope that is Christ in us.
Pray with me. We thank you Father, for the hope you have given us. We know that we do not have to be like the world, hopeless and adrift in life. We can have hope in you and in your grace. Thank you, Father, and we praise you. In Jesus name, amen.
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